I'm not talking about the Broncos playing in the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Feb. 3, 2013.

That's a given.

Well, perhaps not quite yet. There's still this game Sunday at Baltimore, two more regular-season games against slugs and the playoffs in January.

I'm talking about Feb. 4, 2018, and Super Bowl LII.

The Broncos and Visit Denver have submitted an application to the NFL's Super Bowl Advisory Committee to host the extravaganza in 2018, 2019 or 2020.

The Super Bowl finally should be a Mile High.

Come Up To Colorado: No. 52 at 5280.

If Minneapolis, Detroit and Indianapolis, why not Denver?

Our Dusty Old Cowtown did a super job of serving as host for the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Denver has been a site for soaring eyes at the Final Four, the Frozen Four, the World Series, the Stanley Cup Finals twice, the USFL championship, five AFC championships, the ABA Finals, all-star games in baseball, basketball and hockey, the Ultimate Fighting Championship 1 and 2, the annual Great American Beer Festival and the Winter Olympics.

Whoops. Denver was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics, but later told the Olympic Committee to stick the Games where the sun never shines — Innsbruck, Austria. Get over it.

If Jacksonville, Atlanta and the Swampland of New Jersey, why not Denver?

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I'm somewhat an authority on the subject of Super Bowls. I've attended 33 Super Bowls in five different decades, in 14 different cities. I've witnessed all six of the Broncos' Super Bowls, the four straight lost by the Bills, the four Joe Montana won with the 49ers, the worst (Joe Montana and the 49ers over John Elway and the Broncos, 55-10, in New Orleans in 1990) and the best (John Elway and the Broncos over Brett Favre and the Packers, 31-24, in San Diego in 1998).

Because I've probably been to more Super Bowls than anyone else from around these parts, I know how Denver can win the hearts of the NFL owners who will vote in May 2014 on the location for the 2018 game.

Embrace the conditions.

During Super Bowl week, the weather was chilly, snowy and/or rainy in Detroit (twice), Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Atlanta (twice), New Orleans and Dallas (especially), and temperatures likely will reach freezing in early 2014 when the game is played outdoors in New Jersey. Here's a dirty Super Bowl secret: I've attended Super Bowls in Florida cities, California cities and Phoenix, where it's been chilly at night, and people from the North lounge around the hotel pools in the daytime covered by blankets acting like they're warm. And, hey, real hot is an issue too.

So, don't say Denver is too cold.

Two of the other candidates for the games in '18-'19-'20 will be Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Sure, both will offer indoor stadiums, but they're still Minneapolis and Indianapolis, not Denverapolis. And New Jersey will break the "outdoor stadium in cold-weather city" barrier.

Denver will need an ingenious plan. It's not too early now to start strategizing, and everybody should rally around.

Organizers should propose a unique combination Super Bowl, Winter Carnival, Western Stock Show & MiniOlympics. The Super Bowl is just as much about the week leading up to the competition as about the game itself.

The week-long celebration and Colorado fair would be extended to the restaurants and bars in LoDo and on Larimer Street, and the full-sized ski jump would be re-erected in Civic Center Park. The Convention Center would become an indoor haven for the NFL Experience (exhibits, entertainment and excitement for kids and adults). Buses would run regularly for visitors to the casino towns and the mountain resorts, and the ski train would be brought back.

Aspen, Breckenridge and Vail would hold skiing, snowboarding and skating championships for competitors from all over the world — as a prelude to the Winter Olympics in South Korea later in February. And Denver could have an extended version of the Stock Show with a nightly rodeo at The Can. Everybody showing up in Denver that week would be outfitted in cowboy and/or ski attire.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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